Citi

A combined €48bn of cash swelled the orderbooks for Italy and Portugal’s deals on Wednesday, dispelling any fears that the reduction of the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing programme would hamper demand.

On Tuesday multi-tranche and green bond issuance returned to the investment grade corporate bond market, leaving just the hybrid asset class untouched in 2018. That didn’t last long, as Engie and Aroundtown launched new hybrid deals on Wednesday morning, one of which set new lows for the product's coupon and spread levels.

On Wednesday French toll road operator Autoroutes du Sud de la France followed the path its compatriot Orange had taken on Tuesday by issuing a €1bn 12 year new issue. Meanwhile Italian auto finance bank FCA Bank was also in the market with its first benchmark floating rate note.

The Republic of Turkey sold a $2bn 10 year bond on Tuesday just as a sell-off in US Treasuries took hold, but it still managed to raise a book of $5.3bn for the deal.

Citi has named Lars Ingemarsson and Ari Mäkelä co-heads of Nordic investment banking, partly replacing Eirik Winter, who left the firm before Christmas.

The State of Israel opened books on Wednesday for a dual tranche dollar note that will extend its curve by an extra five years.

Oman has hit the screens with a copycat trade of its 2017 triple tranche $5bn note, navigating a more volatile market than it may have hoped for after a back-up in US Treasuries on Tuesday.

Dollar investors had plenty of Chinese property bonds to choose from this week, with four issuers competing for their attention on Tuesday. But with no end in sight to the pipeline, companies will have to navigate the market carefully, or cough up a premium for their bonds.

PhosAgro, a Russian phosphate-based fertiliser company, is embarking on a series of investor meetings to market a five to seven year dollar bond.

Philippine company International Container Terminal Services (ICTSI) opened books for a fixed-for-life dollar perpetual bond on Wednesday, making it the first issuer to take advantage of the country’s ratings upgrade last month.

Chinese technology giant Tencent Holdings is taking feedback from global investors for a 144A/Reg S transaction, and is looking to hit the market on Thursday morning.

Thailand’s Kasikornbank prioritised price over size for its return to the bond market this week, selling a $400m deal at a level that forced some investors to stay away.